Posts Tagged ‘recipes’

Check out this divine tiramisu made by Joy of Gourmeted.com. Looks just as good as restaurant-quality, but it’s homemade! Read more about Joy and her love of cooking, and follow her on Twitter @Gourmeted.

If you love Italian food and want to enjoy an authentic Italian culinary experience, check out Celebrations International Travel’s Tuscany culinary tour. The itinerary posted is only an example of the types of tours we can custom create for your family, group, or organization. Let us help you plan an ideal tour to savor the tastes of Tuscany!

Here is a recipe for some deliously simple Schwaben Klappen cookies that some friends brought to our house for Sunday brunch recently. They’re perfect if you like your cookies a little sweet, but not too sweet. My friends school-aged childen don’t like them, but my preschoolers couldn’t get enough!

Enjoy, and let me know how yours turn out!

1/2 LB Sweet Butter

1/2 LB Cream Cheese

2 Cups Sifted Flour

2 Egg Yolks

* Strawberry Jam (for filling)

Mix first four ingredients cream butter and cream cheese add egg yolks and blend. Add flour.Knead dough. Dough will be sticky. May need to add a little more flour. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled ( about 1 hour) . Cut off small piece of dough and roll thin (put remainder of dough in refrigerator to keep chilled) cut dough withe drinking glass fill dough with jam (small amount of jam on the end of teaspoon) Pat a little water on the edge of cut dough, fold over and press edge together with fork. Place cookies on ungreased sheet. Bake @ 400 12 to 15 min. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Almost all Chinese people I know (myself included) love to celebrate the holidays (make that any holiday) with an abundance of good food. Considering my own background, I think the Chinese have some of the most discerning palates and tastes in the world. By “discerning,” I don’t mean that all food has to be 5-star restaurant-looking, but it has to be good. Good by the Chinese cook’s own discerning standards, that is!

While some foods are symbolic during various festivals and occasions, many dishes can be served and enjoyed throughout the year. Here are a few traditional dishes:

Try your hand at making these and other Chinese specialties on a culinary tour to China! The sample itinerary is posted on our Web site to give you an idea of the types of things you can see and do on one of our culinary tours. However, we encourage you to take that inspiration (and your love of Chinese cooking) and run with it! We will customize your culinary tour to suit your interests, preferences, dates, and budget. Don’t just eat your way through China, this is your chance to truly experience the cuisine and culture!

Subtitled “Home Cooking from Asian American Kitchens”, the cookbook offers a collection of recipes from various cuisines across Asia.

I must confess that I wasn’t always a fan of Asian foods while growing up. I’m an American-born southern girl of Chinese heritage; many times I preferred to stick to good old macaroni and cheese! But now that my husband and I have combined two distinct Asian cultures in our household, we are both ardent connoisseurs of all Asian cuisines. (We’ll still join you any day for some scrumptious BBQ, NY Strip, or hearty American breakfast any day!)

I think this cookbook is a great way to not only celebrate our Asian origins, but to acknowledge and embrace our way of life in our American homeland as well.

Christmas takes place on December 25th, the summertime in Australia. People often spend part of Christmas day with their families at the beach. Christmas dinner is just as likely to be salads, cold meat and seafood as the traditional meal is roast turkey and plum pudding. Children believe that Santa Claus leaves presents for them under the Christmas tree on Christmas eve. One popular Australian song states that six white boomers, or large kangaroos, pull Santa’s sleigh.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, well beaten, also brandy. Stir in all fruit and chopped blanched almonds. Add breadcrumbs, flour, soda, and spices. Bake in greased pudding basin, leaving sufficient room for rising. (The pudding can also be poured onto a piece of calico and tied securely with string.) Steam for 6 hours. This pudding can be made ahead of time, say two or three months if wished. This recipe makes two very large puddings; It is best divided into 3 portions. A half quantity takes 3 1/2 hours to cook. For heating pudding when required, boil slowly for 2-3 hours.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Sift in half of flour and half of fruit, mix, then add rest of ingredients. Bake in an 8″ tin 3 1/2 to 4 hours at 300 degrees.

Pavlova

The Pavlova is a dessert invented in Australia and named are the great ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. Pavlova is a wonderful summer holiday dessert – and therefore makes a regular appearnace on many Australian Christmas menus.:

Preheat the oven to 150°C, 300°F or gas mark 2 (the temperature is reduced for baking). Beat the egg whites to a foam, add the salt and beat until soft peaks form which fold over when the beater is removed. Slowly beat in the castor sugar, beating well after each addition. Keep beating until the mixture is stiff and the peaks stand up when the beater is removed. Mix together the white sugar and corn flour. Lightly fold into the meringue with the lemon juice.

Line an oven tray with baking paper. Spread the meringue into a circle and pipe a decoration around the edge or swirl with a spoon if desired. Bake in a cool oven (80°C or 180°F) for 2 to 2½ hours. Turn off the heat and leave in the oven overnight to cool.

Top with whipped cream and decorate with sliced kiwifruit, sliced strawberries, passion fruit, or just about any tropical fruit, just before serving.

Anzac Biscuits (Cookies)

A biscuit or cookie originally sent in food parcels to Australian and New Zealand troops during the First World War when eggs were scarce, the Anzac (named after the term for Australian and New Zealand soldiers) has become a national favorite.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas mark 4. In a large saucepan melt the butter and golden syrup, then remove from the heat and cool. Add the white sugar, flour, rolled oats and coconut and mix thoroughly. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of water and add to the mixture. Line a baking tray with cooking paper. Roll small rounds of the mixture and place on the baking tray, remembering to allow room for the biscuits to spread. Flatten with a fork. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

My junior year in high school, I was a Rotary Exchange Student in Mulhouse, France (in the Alsace region, near the French-German-Swiss border). I attended a French “lycee,” or high school, and lived with a number of host families. These experiences are the origin of the Alsatian Baekenoffe recipe I posted a few days ago. I remember watching my host mothers make it, most often for family dinners on Sundays.

Alsace is also home to “La Route du Vin,” or the “Wine Route”. Crement d’Alsace is the Alsatian version of a sparkling white wine, which pairs excellently with Baekenoffe or Choucroute Garni, another Alsatian specialty of sauerkraut, pork, and different types of sausage.

While the Northern France Culinary Tour does not feature Alsace, since all of our tours are fully customized, we would be more than happy to design a tour for you that includes Alsace and/or any other regions or cities you would like. Just ask us!

I have to go now, but stay tuned for my next entry, where I’ll tell you about my two visits to Paris.

Here is the baekeoffe recipe that I made recently. It is a very rich, traditional recipe, perfect for a nice Sunday dinner! I learned about it from my various Alsatian host families. Try this, and let me know how yours turns out! Maybe it will inspire you to join us on a future culinary tour to Europe!

• Make a marinade by mixing the wine, the leek whites, a few onions, the carrot sliced in rounds, the bouquet garni and the spices.
• Chop the meat and marinate it in the above mixture for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 210 °C (thermostat 7 – 410°F).
• Peel and slice the potatoes, cover the bottom of a terrine with them and add salt and pepper.
• Slice the remaining onions, place them on top of the first layer and add salt and pepper.
• Place the meat on top of the onions and add salt and pepper.
• Remove the herbs and vegetables from the marinade liquid.
• Pour the marinade liquid, the rest of the white wine and a little water over the three layers until the level reaches the middle of the terrine.
• Add the marinade herbs, plus salt and pepper.
• Make dough with the flour and water and use it to seal the terrine’s lid.
• Put in the oven and bake for at least 3 hours (the longer it cooks, the better the Baeckeoffe will be).

About Us

This is blog based on the experiences and interests of travel agency owners Adrienne and Agni Mitra. Through our blog entries, we will share our travel experience and expertise. We will also have other entries of interest to inspire your travels.

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.